For God, Who said, “Let light shine out of
darkness, made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:6
It was a month before Christmas and time to decorate my childhood home according
to tradition. We unpacked and placed the same items in the same places every
year.
I unwrapped the nativity figures and stood them in the miniature stable.
They were a familiar part of our Christmas decorations, but I didn’t know
anything about them. Sure, there were three kings holding gifts, a shepherd or
two, a cow, a sheep, Joseph and Mary on bended knees, and the tiny feeding
trough with a baby lying in it.
Reality was that I remained in the dark as to the significance they portrayed
in the Christmas story. My family didn’t talk about why we had a nativity or
what it meant. I knew that the baby was Jesus, and that Christmas was about the
birth of Jesus. But I didn’t know why that was important or who Jesus was. End
of story. The thought that I didn’t know bothered me until I was twenty years
old.
I was separated from God because of my self-centered nature. That year I
heard and received the good news that Jesus had left heaven to be born as a
baby and to later die for me—for all the times I’d fallen shorten of His
perfection. God made His light shine in my heart!
I received the good news of Christmas with great joy and each Christmas since
as God reveals to me new facets of the incredulous story of the Savior.
Have you allowed the emblems and events of Christmas to become
commonplace in your heart and mind instead of symbols of the miraculous… at the
risk of missing Christmas?
Karen Sims
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